Benchmark northwest European gasoline refining margins fell on Tuesday after two refineries restarted gasoline-making units. Petronor said on Tuesday that it was restarting a gasoline-making fluid catalytic cracker at its 220,000 barrels per day (bpd) Bilbao oil refinery in northern Spain after it was taken offline on July 13 to perform maintenance.
Industry monitor Genscape said late on Monday that ExxonMobil has restarted the 47,000 bpd FCC at its Augusta refinery in Italy after it shut down in March because of a fire. A cargo of Mexican naphtha is making an irregular journey to ARA after a recent similar export from Colombia, said oil analytics firm Vortexa. "The medium-range tanker Ainazi is expected to deliver its cargo of Mexican naphtha - likely cactus-grade - into Rotterdam around July 26 after loading on July 3 from Pajaritos, where state-run Pemex operates a petrochemical complex," it said.
No Eurobob barges traded in the afternoon trading window. Elsewhere, Total sold five barges of Eurobob gasoline to Shell and BP at $676 a tonne fob Amsterdam-Rotterdam. This compares with trades at $678-$707 on Monday. There were no deals on barges of premium unleaded gasoline. A bid emerged at $690 a tonne fob ARA. The August swap stood at $678.50 a tonne at the close, down from $682. The benchmark Eurobob gasoline refining margin fell to $9.87 a barrel, from $12.18.